Shorebirds are a diverse group of birds that include about 217 recognized species worldwide! Many are long-distance migrants, traveling millions of kilometres each year. They are found around sandy beaches, rocky coastlines, freshwater wetlands, grasslands, and even flooded agricultural lands, feeding on mollusks, marine worms, and insects. The Shorebird Conservation Society aims to highlight the difficulties shorebird populations face to the public, take action to identify and protect natural habitats and partner with local NGOs for conservation.
Shorebirds are also called “waders” and they make up about 10% of Australia's bird species. They are a group of birds that wade in shallow water and look for food on coastal mudflats, estuaries and along the edges of inland wetlands.
Australia has over 50 species of shorebirds. There are resident species, which means they stay here all year and breed on many of Australia's beaches. There are also 37 migratory species regularly seen in Australia. See Wingthreads website for more amazing statistics.
Yesterday I had a long walk along the shore just south of Sydney and the beach and the nearby wetlands had a lot of birds to wonder about, but shorebirds are the world's most endangered group of bird species.
Shorebirds come with great names...sandpiper; oystercatcher; curlew; plover; stint; spoonbill; sanderling; godwit; avocet; snipe; shearwater; and dotterel. See the Shorebird Identification charts.
Time for a book display and some reading!
Pelican announces that he will adjudicate contest between the shorebirds. Each water bird – spoonbill, darter, oyster catcher and more compete. As each one is awarded a gold medal, the ‘wise old pelican’ turns its yellow eye upwards and towards the reader to share the joke - which is, of course, that fit-for-purpose is always best.
This book invites children to guess 12 Australian coastal birds through playful rhymes and hidden flaps. Each page features a riddle and an illustration; lift the flap to reveal the bird name hiding beneath.
• A Shorebird Flying Adventure by Jackie Kevin and Milly Formby
This book takes you on a trip to the Arctic tundra and back. On the way you’ll meet the birds who travel phenomenal distances every year and explore their precious wetland habitats and breeding grounds. Learn fascinating facts about their diet and find out Milly’s top tips to tell one species from another.
A short-tailed shearwater flies from the edge of the Southern Ocean to the rim of the Arctic Circle – and back – every year. This remarkable 30,000 kilometre journey is driven by seabird law.
This is the story of the little-known Bar-tailed Godwit who, following invisible pathways that have been used for thousands of years, undertakes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11,000 kilometres, flying from their breeding grounds in Alaska across the Pacific Ocean to Australia or New Zealand.
A thought-provoking visualisation of the plight of the migratory Bar-tailed Godwits due to habitat depletion. Harnessing dual perspectives through the voice of young Goa Wei living on the coast of China’s Yellow Sea and Gowie, a young godwit who leads the flock from their summer roost in Shoalhaven Heads, in New South Wales.
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